draacor wrote:
So going to Utah for specifically a photo expedition for a week. Going to start in Goblin Valley SP and work way south and west. My current gear is as follows all Z mount lenses:
My concern is do i have a wide enough lens in the 20mm? I used to have the 14-30 f4 but sold it. I wasnt 100% happy with it, and it always vignetted with my kase magnetic 82mm filters. Obviously my choices seem fairly limited when it comes to wide angle with Nikon. I see that Viltrox has a 16mm f1.8 and a 14mm f4. Just dont want to end up on this trip and realize i need something wider than my 20mm. Any thoughts?
I’ve been fortunate to make many long shooting trips to the Utah region the last 26 years, most recently for 3 months last fall, and I made images with focal lengths ranging from 14mm to 500mm. But your 24-120/100-400 combo would be the workhorse lenses for me. There are quite a few well-known Southwest shooters who regularly make use of as wide as 11mm, but successfully composing with such a wide field of view is not easy and not to everyone’s taste, so it really boils down to personal vision and preference.
Your Z 20/2.8 should be very nice for astro. You might check out the thread on the Viltrox 14mm f/4 and consider that as a just-in-case option for the superwide scenarios. I tested one a couple weeks ago and optically is qute excellent (shockingly so for a mere $199) and I’d have no problem using one for my work including making large prints, but you may need to try 2 or 3 copies to get a well-centered one. Also, I have an excellent copy of the Viltrox 16/1.8, wide open it’s sharp corner to corner, but much bulkier and heavier than the small, light 14/4.
The majority of my favorite Utah images were in the 50-400mm range, but I’ll add a few wide-angle images here to give an idea of what worked for me in that range (focal lengths noted in captions).
Most important thing is, have a fantastic time! I would love to see your posted images when you are done.
Mar 25, 2026 at 03:34 PM
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